1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to a contents management system for managing contents by associating multimedia contents such as audio/video information with a document that is viewed and edited by the user on a daily basis.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years and continuing, the development of electronic communication technology has facilitated the operation of interfacing consumer electronic products such as audio/video equipment and PCs (Personal Computers) and delivering high-volume data to a client PC via a telecommunication line (e.g., a network). In such a technical background, there are commercialized products and study examples for capturing video data with a camera and recording the video data in a PC, and delivering the video data to a client PC via the Internet.
Among these examples, there is a system that is attracting attention, which is for accumulating the captured multimedia data in a DB (database) and delivering live data or on-demand data according to a user's request. With this type of system, it is possible to automatically create accurate meeting minutes including information that is not usually written down, such as the decision making process, detailed descriptions, facial expressions of the attendants, and vocal tones of the attendants. Under normal circumstances, the person who is taking notes during a meeting may loose concentration, which may lead to inaccuracies in the minutes. Furthermore, there may be inconsistencies in the understanding and recognition of the contents of the minutes among the people concerned (including those absent from the meeting). However, this system prevents such disadvantages. As a result, it is assumed that the intellectual productivity of the meeting can be enhanced with this proposed system.
However, the problem with recorded audio/video information is that when the user desires to search for a particular recorded scene, there are no search keys other than the time. Thus, it is not easy to search for a scene, as a list of scenes cannot be provided. For example, even when the meeting has been video-recorded, the user needs to search for a part (recorded scene) that he desires to view in the recorded data without any search keys. This may require an enormously long time depending on the recorded time, considering the number of frames included in a single set of video data.
Patent document 1 discloses an invention for solving the above problem with a device having the following technical feature. That is, multimedia information is managed based on time information indicating the association between plural media storage information elements in terms of time. This makes it possible to search for a first media storage information element which is relatively easy to find, and then reproduce a second media storage information element corresponding to the time information of the first media storage information element, thereby enhancing searching efficiency.
Patent document 2 discloses an invention for solving the above problem with a system having the following technical feature. This system includes a device for recording scenes of a lecture presentation or a meeting as contents data of video/audio information. The system also includes a device with which a user can input/specify important scenes which the user needs to review later on as key information, during the course of recording the scenes. Pattern information is obtained by encoding the key information (a time stamp indicating a position in the contents data/URL (Uniform Resource Locator)). The pattern information is printed on a paper medium. The pattern information printed on the paper medium is read with an input device such as a barcode scanner or a digital camera. In this manner, it is possible to access the contents data recorded when the key information was input.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3548900
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-72811
However, with the conventional technology described in patent document 1, the user is required to find the data in which the meeting is recorded, before using the time information to search for a part of the video which the user desires to view. That is, the user is required to search, on his own, the recorded data that includes the scene which he desires to view. Accordingly, the user needs to specify search conditions (e.g., the date of recording, the name of the meeting, attendants, an agenda keyword) in order to search for the recorded data that he desires to view, which is time-consuming for the user. Furthermore, the more data items recorded, the more time will be required to search for the desired data item.
As for the conventional technology described in patent document 2, unless the user is using the dedicated tool or application on a daily basis, it is difficult to utilize the recorded data. Furthermore, in order to transmit the recorded information to a third party or to share the recorded information with a third party, it is necessary to deliver the dedicated tool/application to the corresponding third party.
Under practical circumstances, users organize and share information by creating documents on a daily basis with the use of applications and systems such as a text editor, a word processor, a blog system, and a CMS (Contents Management System), and storing such documents in a storage device such as a local PC or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) in a server. Under such practical circumstances, multimedia contents, which are recorded to be efficiently utilized later on, are stored separately from document data that are viewed/edited by the user on a daily basis. Thus, the recorded multimedia data are not efficiently utilized by users.